A heart failure therapy helps women more

ROCHESTER, N.Y., Feb. 9 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers called it a first in medical history -- a heart therapy more effective in women than in men.

Researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York found cardiac resynchronization therapy with defibrillator -- a treatment that strengthens the heart's mechanical pumping action and helps heart electrical activity -- reduced heart failure 70 percent and mortality 72 percent in women with mild heart failure.

"In prior cardiac studies, men and women generally received similar benefit from preventive medical therapy," lead author Dr. Arthur Moss said in a statement. "Our finding was unexpected, but extremely important because this is the only heart treatment that is clearly better in women than men."

The study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, indicated women in the study were more likely to have non-ischemic heart disease linked to inflammatory scarring of the heart muscle or left bundle branch block -- disorganized heart electrical activity. However, the men tended toward coronary artery disease that led to ischemic heart attacks.

"It's not that men did poorly in the trial, but rather, women had really fantastic results, likely due to the type of heart disease we see more commonly in women," Moss said.